Siam, Tic Tac Toe, Cédille and co.

On Monday, August 16, off the coast of Les Bergeronnes, a cruise ship approaches a group of three humpbacks. When it’s time to dive, they lift their tails into the air one by one, revealing unique black-and-white patterns that serve as genuine ID cards. A naturalist photographs the animals’ caudal fins and is puzzled. The last one is not familiar to her. Obviously, this is a new arrival in the Marine Park, and she seems to be accompanied by her calf. Fortunately, thanks to the decades-long work of scientists who have been documenting whales over the years, the identity of this animal is quickly revealed. This is Cédille, a humpback whale known in the Gulf of St. Lawrence since 1988! This is her 6^th calf, making her a true matriarch. Astonishing fact: in 33 years, she had never been observed so far up the Estuary, generally tending to prefer the waters of the Gulf.

The final significant encounter of the week in the Marine Park is this report of blue whales five nautical miles off Les Escoumins: “Two blues, one of which is showing its tail,” points out one observer. They’re swimming a kilometre and a half apart and diving for 10 or 12 minutes at a time.” We can therefore officially announce the start of the blue season in the Estuary!

Calves that matter

On Monday, hundreds of kilometres away, the MICS team is plying the St. Lawrence between Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan and Anticosti Island when it comes face to face with two giants… one of which is much smaller than the other! This is the blue whale B540, accompanied by a first-year calf. What a joy it is to witness a birth in this extremely vulnerable species! The team also encounters a female fin whale and her calf, bringing the number of fin whale calves seen this year in the Archipelago to two.

The beluga calving season is in full swing. On Tuesday, around a hundred belugas pass by Cacouna toward Île aux Lièvres. The group contains a large number of second- and third-year calves, known in French as bleuvets. The next day, a “big party” of white and grey belugas is observed foraging off Rivière-du-Loup. “We see a handful every day, but this morning, there were about thirty of them,” points out one observer.

In the Saguenay as well, belugas have been passing by almost daily. A naturalist posted at the Pointe-Noire interpretation centre exclaims: “I’ve officially observed my first calf of the year! It was tiny; I even saw its fetal folds. We saw its beautiful little head emerge from the water with its eye and the characteristic “smirk” of belugas.

After a week of pure madness off Godbout and Pointe-des-Monts, where residents reported groups of large rorquals dozens strong, things have calmed down. “Saturday night, we had a mind-blowing spectacle: tail slapping, pectoral slapping, breaches!” says one chalet owner. Since yesterday, we have not seen any large spouts offshore, though we did have at least twenty minke whales that entered the bay to feed.”

Near Sept-Îles, one mariner tallies four fin whales, a few humpbacks, many minke whales and numerous porpoises in a single outing. Lastly, at the entrance to Gaspé Bay, an observer reports on Wednesday morning a pod of 50 to 100 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. A few hours later, a tour boat finds itself in the middle of a group of seven or eight humpbacks. Over the weekend, a blue whale was even seen off Cap Gaspé. “Minke whales and porpoises are also very present, but no fin whales for a good week now,” says our observer.

These data were reported by our network of observers. The observations give a rough idea of the presence of whales, but do not in any way represent the true distribution of cetaceans in the St. Lawrence. Enjoy!

Click on the whale or seal icons to see the species, number of individuals observed, additional information or photos of the sighting.  To zoom in on the map, click on the icon in the upper right corner. The map works well on Chrome and Firefox, but less so on Safari.

To display the list of observations, click on the icon in the upper left corner.